Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Humanitarian Day

Today is the sixth annual observance of Humanitarian Day in the U.S., the largest collective Muslim-organized charitable event. It features Muslims working with other faiths to serve those in need. The most important aspect of this day is treating others with respect, love and dignity—something much needed in the world.

While I’m not Muslim, I sincerely respect what this effort means and wholeheartedly applaud their endeavors. More information may be found here.

This is a good time to post an update on our own humanitarian effort—knitting bandages for leprosy patients. The bandages are starting to arrive and we even have new participants. When I receive your package, I’m marking them as RECEIVED by your name in the right-hand column. Please remember it takes about 4–5 days for mail to arrive in Tucson from the east coast.

Each bandage is a blessing of love for those afflicted with leprosy. And, for those who wonder why we don’t just buy gauze bandages, it’s because they don’t last and can’t be washed. Our knit or crochet bandages can be laundered and re-used by the patients—a “green” effort if you want to look at it that way.

In the Bible one of the teachers asks Jesus which is the most important commandment. Jesus talked about "loving God with all your heart..." and said the 2nd most important is this: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Mark 12:29-31. There are people who leave church on Sun. morning and have hate in their hearts for anyone who is a Muslim. We need to have a HUMANITARIAN LIFE!!!Love,Joni

Hey Junie-Moon - I have my bandages all ready to go. I will try to get them in the mail tomorrow - it's snowing today. My hope was to get ten done, but managed only five. I love your humanitarian spirit. It's wonderful to have met someone so caring and I hope to participate in more of your humanitarian efforts. Will you be doing more bandages throughout the year? Thank you for hosting such a worthy cause. ..alice

Hi there dear June. Thank you for this post, and the broad perspective that you bring to blogging. I appreciate it very much, and I appreciate the effort of every individual who works towards a better world on behalf of a better world.